The Abridged version:
- Natomas Unified School District made official a new contract with teachers, including higher salaries and better benefits, during a special board meeting at 7:30 a.m. Friday.
- While at the dais, trustees also doubled their own monthly stipends.
- The agreement with the Natomas Teachers’ Association will require about $8.6 million in budget cuts, according to the district. Nonteaching staff received matching compensation bumps, too.
Natomas Unified recently put to rest a seven-day teacher strike by agreeing to higher salaries, better benefits and extra pay for oversized classrooms.
Trustees signed off on these terms at a special board meeting Friday morning.
While at the dais, leaders also gave themselves a hefty bonus and left the door open to more.
Recent state law allowing school boards to raise their own pay for the first time in decades has prompted several boards across California to act, including members in Elk Grove Unified and now Natomas.
Teachers and trustees were not the only ones to receive a raise during Friday’s meeting. Nonteaching staff and unrepresented employees benefited from teachers’ efforts, with matching salary increases and more significant health care coverage.
Trustees doubled their pay
Trustees currently earn $486 per month, Natomas Unified spokesperson Deidra Powell said. Under the new law, Natomas board members could up their pay to a maximum of $2,000 a month.
They settled for what board President Micah Grant called a more modest increase to $1,000 monthly checks, effective April 1. The superintendent and board plan to reconsider the full maximum amount in June, when the state budget is finalized.
“I’ve always said, hey, you shouldn’t have to be independently wealthy to serve on a school board,” Grant said.
Bad timing, ‘disrespectful’
The board raise passed 3-2 among board members, with trustees Noel Mora and Ericka Harden voting no.
Mora said his objection was based “solely on the timing.”
“I think it’s wrong to have this item during this meeting … It is perhaps the least appropriate time,” Mora said.
Two parents also spoke against the action, including Eboni Young, a mother of three Natomas students.
“You guys are disrespectful,” Young said, addressing the board. “I could never sit in that chair that you’re sitting in right now and tell these educators that the raise they just got is nothing.”
Teachers earn pay, benefits bump
In the same meeting this week, district leaders approved a new contract with the Natomas Teachers’ Association.
Terms of the agreement include a 3.25% increase in pay this year and 2% next. The district will also contribute more dollars to educators’ health benefits. Natomas Unified will cover 85% of Kaiser’s most expensive plan in 2026, 90% in 2027 and 100% in 2028.
The salary increases fall short of teachers’ demands for 7.5% split over two years. But the boost in benefits was a “huge win,” according to union President Nico Vaccaro. Health care was a major sticking point in negotiations in Natomas, as well as next door in Twin Rivers Unified.
Natomas teachers ratified the contract Thursday night with a super majority, Vaccaro said.
Cuts needed to afford contract
The wins will require about $8.6 million in budget cuts, according to the district.
In a public disclosure form, Natomas Unified officials said they have already identified where those trims will occur:
- Elimination of four positions in the central office.
- Reductions to college-prep programs IB and AVID.
- Fewer outside contractors.
- Delay purchasing new athletic uniforms by one year.
“There are no impacts to core programs or services to students,” the district document stated.
Nonteaching employees win, too
Whatever teachers get, nonteaching staff will also receive, based on a clause in their contract with the district.
That meant Natomas Unified increased health care coverage funding for instructional assistants, custodians, bus drivers and other employees districtwide.
Plus, trustees gave nonunion positions, such as physical therapists or library specialists, raises equal to that of teachers.
Documents did not specify the cost of compensation increases for these nonteaching groups.
Savannah Kuchar is a reporter covering education. She came to Sacramento to be a part of the Abridged team and contribute to a crucial local news source.